MACHINERY operators across the globe can throw out their analogue farm service records and replace them with a simple, yet elegant, solution from a NSW farmer.

Thirty years of farming experience teamed with a passion for problem solving and digital technology, has resulted in the launch of the Farm Service Manager app.

Launched simultaneously across English speaking countries, the app is the innovation of farmer and developer, David Ricardo.

Farming a variety of winter and summer crops, including wheat, chickpeas, canola and cotton, in partnership with his brother, near Walgett, NSW, Mr Ricardo said he was proud to officially launch the app.

“Farm Service Manager is an app which will allow operators to manage maintenance and servicing of all tractors and machinery all from their phone,” he said.

“I am proud to deliver a solution for my own farm as well as others across the world.”

Mr Ricardo said his problem with the current system for maintenance records was a common one.

“We kept a service book in the shed, this leads to problems with access, missing records and reliance on one copy,” he said.

“We needed an app, where everyone had an electronic version of this book.”

Mr Ricardo said Farm Service Manager app was designed to track all services on farm, major or minor, for all farm machinery, from the headers and tractors down to small compressors and pumps.

“In our own case, I farm with my brother and we have a couple of key people who all need access to good service records,” he said.

“We all operate and service machinery, greasing and maintaining things from day to day and all that needs to be recorded.

“Farm Service Manager has multi user access, so the owner can assign different levels of access allowing employees and outside mechanics to update records as work is carried out.

“While leaving most major services to the local dealership, we would do every other service ourselves, as well as all the little stuff.”

Mr Ricardo said a service history was valuable, in terms of maintaining machinery for optimum performance, as well as having an exportable record which could be emailed when reselling equipment to prospective buyers.

“We write dates and hours on oil filters when we put them on, but that doesn’t lead to building a service history,” he said.

“It’s important just keeping up with what happened, it’s hard to know whether something was serviced three or six months ago if you don’t have good records.”

Mr Ricardo said a lot of work went into the Farm Service Manager app to ensure it was user friendly and fit for purpose.

”I wanted to make it easy enough for everyone to use.”

Mr Ricardo said a key feature of the app was its flexibility to suit a range of farm structures.

“The app caters for everyone, a single owner-operator, a partnership or family farm, along with full support for corporate structures and complex enterprises.”

Mr Ricardo said the Farm Service Manager app had been released simultaneously across Australia and all English speaking countries.

“Over coming months, I hope to translate it into several other languages, to open it up to the rest of the world.

“Farm Service Manager is available on both Apple and Android platforms.”